Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Decision to miss out yesterday was a good one; I was feeling much better by time to leave this morning, so no qualms about attending today's two games. Had some confusion in the morning; I got up, looked at the clock, which said 7:40. Had a shower, went down to breakfast at what I thought was about 8:30. When I got back to my room, however, my computer said it was 10:00, which made no sense. I thought maybe the computer never changed time zones. Then I turned on the television, and IT said 10:00. Finally it dawned on me that Canada (and probably the US) must have gone off daylight savings time last night. There wasn't a whisper of any reminder anywhere yesterday. Good thing I figured it out, as I would have been very angry to have missed an hour of the game.
When I got to my seat, in good time, the folks in the row behind me asked after me, where I had been yesterday and so on. They said they missed me (very nice!). Didn't want the mad woman from Virginia to miss all the excitement.
And there was PLENTY of excitement.
For one thing, since there is only one game on the ice, they do a silly game a la minor league baseball at the halfway break. There are TWO mascots making hay in the stands, and the cameras hunt out all the people in costume.
The real excitement for the first game, however, was the game. It went all the way down to the wire and had to be won on the final rock of the 10th end and required a seriously difficult shot. The crowd clearly favored the winning team, and so everyone was happy--except the losing team and their fans. But even they had to be satisfied that it was a well-played game. No one blew it.
The final was equally exciting, though a totally different kind of game. This is the only game I saw all week in which both teams were playing really defensively, and there were numerous blanks (ends in which no one scores). Things really heated up at the end, though, with Wild Card leading by one heading into the 10th end without hammer. Koe and Alberta scored two with yet another precision shot (about the umpteen millionth of the night) on the last rock to win the championship.
I was pulling for Wild Card, but no one could grudge Koe anything--they are a great team and, by all accounts, really nice people. And they played the dickens out of the game--and the tournament. Undefeated in 13 games. Wild card had to play 15 all told, and two today, so definite underdogs, but they battled it out the whole game. A lot of fun.
Both teams are actually from Alberta. Koe won the provincial playdown, so his team was in. I'm not sure how a team gets chosen to play in the playoff game to be wild card (something left for me to learn!), but Bottcher's team is the second Alberta team. So Alberta fans have nothing to complain about today.
I don't imagine I will ever want to come do this again, but it has been a really great week and I'm happy I came to experience it once. I learned a ton and it really is more exciting in person than on television.
Heading home tomorrow. If you are ever in Brandon, Manitoba, and you are trying to decide between the Motel 6 and the Comfort Inn, choose Motel 6. It's a bit cheaper, they have an elevator, and the Internet is WAY better. Motel 6 also has a thermostat instead of a wall unit blower with knobs you have to fiddle with endlessly trying to get the temperature not-too-hot and not-too-cold. Don't get me wrong: Comfort Inn saved my butt and I am very grateful. But if you have a choice, which I did not, you can do better. Under no circumstances should you go to Knight's Inn, even if they have beautifully renovated rooms and offer you one night free.
More notes on the photos. I have some great videos to post--including the championship shot--but the Internet here isn't good enough; video takes FOREVER. And I'm going to bed!
Kristina
2019-03-11
I love the pictures. Looks like you had a great time